‘She wants it badly,’ Walter observed, but Duff was not listening. His narrowed eyes were moving constantly between the camera and the bidders. George Hardy dropped out at $3,500 and the bidding slowed. Walter thought that Foster might be bidding for his head office but he too dropped out at $4,000. Bennet called out:
‘Going once. Going at four thousand dollars.’ His eyes swept the room. So did those of Janine Lesage. Piercing, predatory eyes.
‘Going twice!’ Bennet s hand was held flat down to slap the table.
‘Four and a half!’
All eyes swung onto the corner table and the figure of Duff Paget. He appeared startled at the sound of his own voice. Walter Blum was looking amused. He poured more wine into their glasses. The French woman’s voice cracked out.
‘Five thousand!’
Now the room buzzed and Bennet took another swig of Scotch, pulled a handkerchief from his top pocket and mopped his face.
‘Five and a half!’
Duff was leaning forward, his face rigid. There was a long pause. All eyes swung back to Janine Lesage. Her face showed a mixture of anger and frustration.
‘Going once at five and a half thousand,’ Bennet intoned, looking at the woman. She sat rigid on her bar stool, a glass clamped in the fingers of her right hand.
‘Going twice.”
‘Six thousand!” she called, and Duff’s voice followed in an instant.
‘Seven!”
It was over and Bennet knew it. He saw her slump lower on her stool. ‘Going once. Going twice.’ A pause, a swift survey of the room, then his hand slapped down on the table.
‘Gone at seven thousand to Duff Paget - and the dogs thank you, sir!”
He laughed loudly at his wit but he was the only one. Janine Lesage was the centre of attention. She had stood up and was looking at Duff with hatred. There was complete silence. Then she spat the words across the room.
‘Va te faire enculer.’
She banged her glass onto the bar and strode out. There was a general exhalation of breath and some nervous laughter and then the talk began as everyone crowded to the bar.
‘Do you speak French?” Walter asked Duff, who appeared to be in a daze. He looked up and shook his head. Walter smiled.
‘Then allow me to translate. The lady associated you with sodomy . . . not very original for one whose profession demands a wide use of vocabulary. However she did get her message across which was, in essence, that you’ve gained both a camera and an enemy.’
Duffs eyes remained on the camera. He shrugged and said:
‘It would have been wrong. She had no right to it.’
‘You will use it?’
Duff shook his head emphatically. ‘Never! No one will use it. If he ever wants it again it will be waiting for him.’ He sighed and then smiled grimly. ‘Lesage isn’t the only one who’s going to be mad with me.’
‘Oh?”
‘No, that money was going towards a gold and jade bracelet for my wife. It’s our wedding anniversary on Thursday.’
Walter clucked sympathetically. ‘And she won’t understand?’ he asked.
Duff shook his head sadly. ‘No, she won’t understand.’
Walter reached forward and patted him paternally on the shoulder. ‘Well young man, at least you won’t have to worry about Miss Lesage. I understand that she is being reassigned to the Middle East in a few days.’ He glanced at his watch and heaved himself to his feet.
‘Thank you for your company and entertainment. I wish you well with your wife. Remember the words of Hamlet:
“Rightly to be great,
Is not to stir without great argument.”‘
He waddled ponderously across the room, followed by Duffs puzzled gaze.
So on October 29th, two events took place. Duff Paget presented his wife with a bunch of long-stemmed roses and had a terrible row; and thousands of miles away and by the purest coincidence, the Government of Iraq ratified the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
Book Two
Chapter 3
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IRAQI NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
Report No. IIA.: 14th July 1975
To: General Yitzhak Hofti, Director General
From: Shimon Saguy, Research and Analysis Director
Sources: Head of Station, Paris
ORANGE4
ORANGE7
Circulation: nil
I am fed up. There are just too many people blundering about; sending contradictory information and taking up an inordinate amount of my department’s time. During the past 45 days we have processed reports and prepared analysis for:
Milint 2
Foreign Ministry
Cabinet Secretariat
Cabinet Scientific Advisory Panel
Prime Minister’s Office
Chief of Staff’s Office
U.N. Ambassador’s Office (Why?!)
- and yourself (five times)
I did not join Mossad to become a post office sorter. My staff and I have now repeated ourselves, in various reports, more than a dozen times. I will re-cap on the relevant information we possess and will then make a recommendation:
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1. Various states, which can be classified as enemies (or potential enemies) of Israel are currently engaged in attempting to produce nuclear weapons. Those states posing the most serious threat are: Egypt, Libya, Pakistan and Iraq.
2. There is no doubt that the greatest danger is represented by Iraq because, unlike Libya or Egypt which are under tight control by their respective patrons, i.e.: the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A., Iraq has sufficiently distanced itself from the U.S.S.R. to proceed on an independent (and therefore unsupervised) course. Pakistan is trailing because it lacks both the financial and scientific resources. In any event its nuclear programme is designed primarily to counter that of India. The threat to Israel is a by-product of the Islamic connection.
3. Iraq’s sponsor is France: perhaps the most mercenary of all the developed states.
Note:
A. More than 50 per cent of French oil imports are supplied by Iraq.
B. As part of the commercial nuclear ‘package’, Iraq has agreed to purchase in excess of six billion dollars worth of French-manufactured products, including arms. We estimate that between the years 1977 to 1981 this ‘package’ will ensure the employment of over one million French workers.
C. There is currently a marked anti-Israel (you might say anti-Semitic) trend within the French Government.
These factors, combined with Iraq’s oil wealth, and Saddam Hussein’s ambitions to lead the Arab world, create, in my view, the most serious threat that Israel has ever faced.
3 0F5
4. The current situation is:
Three months ago an agreement was signed whereby France would construct for Iraq a 70 M W nuclear reactor for research and training purposes. It would be supported by a minireactor of 800 KW. We discovered (primarily through the efforts of ORANGE 4) that the contract contained several secret clauses, two of which are particularly relevant:
i. No information could be given about the size of the complex by either side for a period of 25 years.
ii. The French will not employ anyone of Jewish origin to work on the contract.
It is significant that the planned reactor is at least twice as large as those normally used by industrial nations for research purposes.
A consortium has been formed of five French firms headed by the government agency Technicatom, to build and install the reactor.
Weapons Capability:
As Iraq has signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, it will come under the inspection of the International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.) Also there will be French scientists and technicians on the spot for the foreseeable future. So under normal circumstances it would not be possible for the Iraqis either to produce weapons-grade uranium or Pu239. However, once they have a nucleus of their own trained people, they could expel the French and the I.A.E. A. inspector
s. They could also steal some Pu239- we did.
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At the present time the Iraqis are also negotiating with Italy to buy four ‘hot cell’ laboratories. Our information is that the deal will shortly be concluded. These laboratories could be used to extract small quantities of Pu239 from spent reactor fuel.
Iraq already has a small Soviet-supplied research reactor which became operational in 1968. However, the Soviets are far stricter in their supervision than many Western states and we do not consider that facility to present a threat.
The crux is that once all these facilities are ‘on stream’ the Iraqis will be able to train up to 1000 technicians at a time. If any further proof was needed that the Iraqis are planning to produce nuclear weapons it was provided by reports from the ORANGE network that during the past six months the Iraqis have been attempting to purchase (from various sources) large quantities of uranium oxide (yellowcake). They are actively negotiating with Brazil, Niger, China, Libya and Portugal for large quantities of yellowcake. Note that the reactor which the French have agreed to supply is of a type which cannot use refined yellowcake as a fuel. However, by packing it around the reactor core in a ‘blanket’ they could produce up to 12 kilograms of Pu239 a year. Enough to make two atomic bombs similar in size to the one dropped on Nagasaki.
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Conclusion:
The Iraqis are determined to produce nuclear weapons and the reactor being supplied by the French will give them the capability.
Timescale:
If the contract proceeds on schedule and if, as I believe, the Iraqis subsequently expel the French technicians and the I.A.E.A. inspectors, they will possess nuclear weapons by 1979/80. They already possess the aircraft to give them delivery capability.
Recommendations:
1. Everybody concerned should re-read ‘G.M. Memo Three’.
2. That a single entity within Mossad be set up with the sole purpose of counteracting this threat; and that it should have priority over everything else. END IT.
Walter Blum tossed the report on to the desk and blew cigar smoke over it. Across the desk General Hofti coughed and beat the air with his hands. They were sitting in his office and a sign on the desk proclaimed ‘No Smoking’!
Walter Blum was the only one who ever broke the rule, explaining on the first occasion that the smoke would distress the good General far less by its presence than Walter by its absence.
General Yitzhak Hofti had taken over as head of Mossad in 1973 when Zui Zamir had been a bureaucratic casualty of the Yom Kippur War. He was a dour man with just a hint of suppressed humour. Walter liked him and enjoyed teasing him.
‘What,’ he enquired, ‘is the “G.M. Memo Three”?’
Hofti pushed his chair back, moved over to the window and, in spite of the air conditioning, opened it. A gust of hot air swept into the room and he inhaled gratefully. He tried to decide which he disliked the most: the smell of cigar smoke or the cologne in which Walter obviously bathed every morning. In fact Walter assailed all his senses, for the General was a sparse, abstemious man, and Walter represented the apex of over-indulgence. But Hofti had abounding respect for his intellect and his ability to ‘deliver’. So he took a deep breath, closed the window and turned back to his desk.
‘It’s the third of three memos that Golda Meir prepared on her retirement.’ He sat down and looked at Walter solemnly.
‘She considered them to be her legacy to Israel. The first deals with immigration. The second with internal politics and the third with the security of the state. Naturally it has very limited circulation. I will arrange that a copy will be made available to you. In the meantime I can give you a precise of it as it relates to this report.’
He gestured at the folder on his desk and there were a few moments of silence while he collected his thoughts. Then he talked in a low, precise, voice.
‘You know that we produced our first nuclear warhead in 1967. In fact your help was invaluable.’
He was referring to the fact that in 1965 Walter’s ORANGE network had been instrumental in stealing 206 pounds of enriched uranium from the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Company in Pennsylvania.
‘Since then,’ Hofti continued, ‘we have built up a stockpile of twenty-three bombs.’
He smiled slightly. ‘What you don’t know is that in ‘73, during the Yom Kippur war, we prepared thirteen of them for immediate use.’
His smile widened as he saw the look on Walter’s face.
‘We would have used them?’ Walter asked.
The General shrugged. ‘That would have been Golda’s decision. Frankly, I doubt it. They were prepared for the purpose of frightening the Americans. You will recall that they’d been very tardy in airlifting military supplies to us in the first few days. Kissinger no doubt thought that if the Egyptians were to take and hold a sizeable portion of the Sinai, we would be more tractable when it came to overall peace negotiations.
‘Anyway, Golda gave them a seventy-two hour ultimatum. Either the supplies started to flow or we would use our nuclear arsenal on Egypt. You can imagine their reaction!’
Walter was shaking his head in awe. ‘And they believed her?’
‘At first, no. But after twenty-four hours we started to prepare the bombs. They’re at Dimona and the C.I.A. have an agent in there.’ Again Hofti smiled at Walter’s look of incredulity.
‘Of course, we have known about him for years. They slipped him in when they were helping us, back in the fifties. We left him alone in the expectation that one day he would be useful. Well, that day came. Naturally we let him see the bombs being readied and very soon the Americans began to take Golda’s threat seriously. As a result we got our supplies and in short order the Egyptian Second Army was surrounded. Now you see the implications?’
Walter was nodding, deep in thought.
‘Obviously, if the Egyptians also had the bomb,’ he said, ‘Golda’s threat would have been idle in the extreme. “This bodes some strange eruption to our state”.’
“Precisely,’ the General agreed. ‘In her memo number three Golda spelled it out, not perhaps with as much erudition as Shakespeare, but certainly in simple, unequivocal terms. We cannot allow any potential enemy of Israel to have nuclear weapons until such time as there is a comprehensive peace settlement which gives Israel secure borders, recognised by all parties and guaranteed by the great powers. The fact that only Israel has the bomb is our ultimate security until we have that peace settlement.’
‘That could be a long time.’
Hofti shook his head. ‘Not as long as some think. There are already strange vibrations coming out of Egypt. I myself give it ten years. But Walter, the point is that if any other Middle East country obtains or builds nuclear weapons then that estimate could be very protracted . . . and we would finally have to settle for something less than adequate. The Egyptians have already shown they are capable of fighting a determined conventional war. We are facing odds of hundreds to one and eventually we would lose a conventional war. With that scenario we must work for peace and our continued exclusivity in the nuclear field is our only trump card. We cannot lose it.’ Again he gestured at the folder.
‘Therefore, I’ve decided to follow Shimon’s recommendations. A single entity within Mossad will now be made responsible to ensure that Iraq, or any other enemy, does not obtain, by any means, nuclear weapons.’
He looked hard at Walter who took a deep draw on his cigar.
‘I want you personally to be that entity. Of course, you will use the network and any other agency you require, but from this moment your sole mission is to stop the Iraqis getting that bomb . . . your sole mission, Walter.’
With a grunt Walter pushed himself to his feet and started to pace the floor. He was wearing a dark blue sharkskin suit and alligator leather shoes, one of which squeaked rhythmically under his bulk. After waddling back and forth several times he stopped abruptly, looked at Hofti with annoyance and said: ‘It’s just not true
!”
‘What?’
‘That shoes only squeak if they haven’t been paid for.’
Hofti snorted both in amusement and exasperation.
‘You make jokes while I talk of a threat to Israel’s very existence.’
Walter shook his head, it’s no joke. The damned thing cost me four hundred dollars in New York.’ He pointed his cigar accusingly at the General.
‘And I bought them from a Jew.’ His fat lips twitched into a smile. ‘Maybe he never paid the alligator.’
He noted the General’s expression, moved back to his chair and sank ponderously into it. Hofti was yet again recalling the setbacks in having an agent wealthy enough to buy half of Israel. But he kept his tongue still and waited for Walter to come back to the subject.
‘I could of course talk of the great weight of responsibility you’re putting on my shoulders,’ Walter said, ‘but I hate alluding to weight in any form. Have you any suggestions as to how I undertake this mission?’
‘Several,’ Hofti answered. ‘The first one is that you finally move your base to Cyprus. You must be closer to the arena.’
Walter nodded in agreement.
‘And also closer to France, because that is where I’m going to start.’
‘How?’
Walter held up three fingers. ‘There are three stages. First: to try to stop the French by using diplomatic methods. Second: sabotage the deal using any methods; and third: assuming that the reactor is delivered, to render it inoperable.’ He thought for a minute and then said:
‘I’ll consider all the aspects and give you a report in seven days. Meanwhile I’m going to need every single scrap of information available.’ He reached forward and patted the folder.
Snap Shot Page 7
